This Japanese Electric Wand Is the Secret to Tight, Lifted Skin

Parsing through the litany of skin fixations on my mind of late, a single-minded obsession with “the sag” has risen to the top. A passing comment from an overly frank doctor (“Your face. It’s sagging.”) sent me into a spiral last month, and I subsequently began seeking a miracle product to restore my youth, sans needle or scalpel. Luckily, the PureLift, a cunning electric device, has just arrived stateside, promising actual results.

Think of it as a next-level at-home microcurrent device, codeveloped and made in Tokyo, at the behest of New York–based XtreemPulse. But this sleek facial wand uses “patented high-frequency complex waveforms,” or a version of mild electric muscle stimulation, and a conductive gel to trigger deeper muscle contractions. The logic is that facial bands need to be worked out and tightened, effectively tautening the skin on top. “We like to say that it’s like yoga for the face,” explains Cindy Kim, cofounder of New York’s Silver Mirror facial bar, the first location to stock the device in the United States. “The more you commit to your practice and keep at it, the stronger your muscles become.”

Yet, there is an instantaneous effect that’s quite striking. On a trip to Silver Mirror, I laid back while an aesthetician firmly pressed the PureLift into the crook of my right cheekbone and along the jawline for five minutes. She then brought a compact out for inspection, revealing a Two-Face visage (I’m told the results are far more dramatic on mature skin). What’s more, my face stayed tighter and brighter for days after, compelling me to bring a device home for regular use—just five minutes for each side, gliding the wand along the contours to mimic a lymphatic drainage massage, as the corners of my mouth twitch uncontrollably.

“I was instantly hooked,” Kim says, and I, too, have become addicted. Fellow Vogue editors who have tried it agree. Chalk it up to a placebo effect if you must, but I, for one, am a believer. Sometimes, it can be as good as it seems.